Assessing Border Community Readiness for Health Management Prior to the Special Border Economic Zone in Thailand: A Case Study of Sadao District Songkhla Province, Thailand

Abstract

Community readiness (CR) refers to the degree to which a community is ready to take an action to address a health issue. Since 2015, the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) has already carried on in Thai-Malay border. The present study was conducted by using a 2-phased-mixed-methods, aiming to assess the level of CR and preparation and to develop community health management model prior to SEZ in Sadao district, Songkhla province. Data were collected by questionnaires in 450 local people by simple random sampling. An in-depth interview followed by a focus groups discussion was then performed in purposive selected 150 participants, during December 2017-April 2018. The data was finally analyzed by descriptive statistics and content analysis. Overall community readiness scores ranged from 5.85 to 7.01 on a 10-point scale. The mean readiness score, 6.28 (SD = 0.44) corresponds with an initiation level of readiness which referred to an action plan is established, and early steps are being taken by leadership to address the issue. Main features of the health management model for SEZ was established by community stakeholders as following: (1) community participation (2) network strengthening (3) knowledge and management (4) communication and (5) healthy public policy approach. These findings indicated that they display a slightly high of CR level. In the next step, targeted capacity building activities will be promoted to archive the health model to SEZ for sustainability.